Apple, I love You

Cast your fanboy slurs aside, naysayers! I've a story of true love to tell, and with a happy ending to boot!

In case you weren't aware, I've been having some issues with my MacBook. Some from the start, some quite recent. The basic rundown, in order of appearance, is this:

• Emits infamous high pitched whine unless CPU is tasked.
• iSight microphone always records with static noise interference.
• Piece of palm rest cracks off.
• iSight camera breaks completely, green power indicator light remains on while computer is on.

Through it all I've loved my MacBook for its Mac user experience, namely the joys of OS X, but my patience was starting to wear thin with all these hardware issues. I began to wonder what Steve Jobs would think of all this.

So I wrote him and asked.

Two days later, or 20 minutes ago from the time I'm typing this blog entry, my phone rings and a gentleman named Tajai from Apple's executive relations here in Canada is on the other end going over the contents of my e-mail to Jobs with me and assuring me he is now personally going to see this issue through to resolution.

How do you like them Apples?

The situation is being handled thusly: Tajai understands I need my computer for work and can't afford the downtime a repair would incur, so he's willing to pay up to $300 for a rental Mac while my MacBook goes into the shop. If the issues can't be resolved via the repair attempt, the MacBook will be replaced.

One of my main concerns when writing Steve was whether my MacBook experience was common to all MacBook owners. Tajai assured me my situation is rare, which, along with his personal commitment to seeing my MacBook through all of this, was reassuring.

I was starting to fear Apple had become just another faceless corporate greed machine, having turned its ear away from its customers and towards the ka-ching sound of money bags falling from the sky. That fear has now subsided. Apple is still a company that builds relationships with its customers, as this experience only proves.

Like any great relationship that goes through a hard time and comes out the other end in tact, my love for Apple is now stronger than ever.

Apple, I love you.

Whine vs. Whine

In my last post, I gave a very favorable review of my new MacBook computer. The review still stands, but an issue with my MacBook has come up that I feel is worth mentioning. Only I'm not mentioning it here first.

I've been spending a lot of quality time with my MacBook since I got it, which for the most part involves just me, the computer, and a quiet room. Under such conditions, it came to my attention a few days ago that my MacBook is producing what can only be described as a quiet yet high pitched scratchy whine. Its a persistant sound that sort of sputters out from the area of the keyboard near the MagSafe port, only stopping for brief moments when it seems either the CPU or hard drive gets called into action, like when opening up an application.

I did some research online looking for any connections between the MacBook Core 2 Duo and noise, and I found other people were experiencing this whine and posting about it, while still other MacBook owners were checking and finding no such problem occuring in their machines. It would seem not all MacBooks have been affected, though tell that to the guy who had his MacBook replaced only to find the replacement had the same problem.

Thursday night I wrote an e-mail to the publisher of a popular blog I enjoy called Cult of Mac, regaling him with my tale of woe (and whine), and the next day he posted about the issue on his blog, a development I hadn't expected quite so soon. I was impressed.

That day I spoke to a very friendly and knowledgeable Apple Support Technician, making full use of my free 90 days of phone support, and he agreed the noise was abnormal and advised I take my MacBook in for inspection and possible repair. Meanwhile, he has flagged the issue. If it starts turning up enough it will put their engineers into gear and hopefully both ensure the problem is identified in the manufacturing process, so no more MacBooks get produced with this problem, and develop a solution for current MacBook owners still facing the issue, like a firmware update.

Some momentum is gathering, but it can't stop here. Anyone who is experiencing this whine in their MacBook Core 2 Duo should phone Apple Support immediately to ensure the problem is brought to their attention, as well as to receive advice on how best to proceed towards a solution.

Also, feel free to tell me about it in the comments field, below (which is now finally switched fully on, by the way), post about it in your own blog or favorite online forum, or inform your favorite bloggers and see if they'll take any action. A little whine can go a long way.